Billionaire's Single Mom

"That son of a bitch," I said as I stood up and started pacing the garden walk. "That no good son of a bitch is trying to ruin the company!"

"It's obvious that Sloan wants to pull it apart and sell it off," Leah said. "But are you sure your brother wants to do that, too? He sounded a little less certain of . . . well, everything."

"He's a greedy bastard who has always done everything for profit, and I'm sick and tired of it," I said as I felt the ball of anger building in my chest.

"Maybe you should sit down and talk with him before you get too worked up," Leah suggested.

"I'm going to kill him," I growled as I headed back toward the house.

"Jack!" Leah called. "Don't do anything drastic before you know the whole story!"

"Fuck that, I'm going to murder my brother, and then I'm going to go after Sloan Morgan with everything I have," I called over my shoulder. There was no way the two of them were going to make a fool of me.

"JACK!" Leah shouted. I stopped and turned around to see her striding toward me with a determined look on her face. "No, you are not going to go in there and blow the one advantage we have simply because you're pissed about some childhood grudges and mad at a girl who played you. God, you are such a man!"

"What the hell does that mean?" I said as I turned and looked down at the fiery Irish girl who was ordering me around.

"It means that you're an idiot," she said with her hands on her hips. "If you go in there and start a war with your brother, you'll blow every possible advantage we have. And you'll make it impossible for us to formulate a counter-attack."

"But he can't get away with this!" I shouted.

"Keep your voice down," she said, quieting me. "Look, we just heard their entire plan. Now we can sit down and map out a way to subvert it. But if you go in there and tip our hand, we'll never be able to stop them. Your brother has contacts at the bank, and Sloan is as slippery as a greased snake."

"You've been hanging around Norma too much," I grinned as the southern saying slipped out of her mouth. Leah laughed a little and then stepped closer and rested her hands on my chest. I felt my body instantly respond, and I had to quickly remind myself that she was my employee, not a conquest. It wasn't easy, though. Her fingers were light, and I could feel the warmth of her palms seeping through my shirt as she looked up at me. Never in my life had I ever wanted to kiss a woman more than I did at that moment.

"Listen, we've got to put up a fight," Leah said looking up at me. Her eyes were softer now, and I could see every one of the freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks. "There are so many people at Baby Steps who are counting on keeping their jobs. We can't let Sloan and your brother gut the company and leave them high and dry, can we?"

"No, we definitely cannot," I said clearing my throat and forcing myself to look away. At that moment, I couldn't have cared less about the company. I wanted to sweep Leah up in my arms and carry her to my bedroom so I could peel off the layers of clothes and find out if her freckles stretched all the way to her toes.

"Jack?" she said as she tapped my chest.

"Huh?"

"I asked you what you were going to do right now," she repeated.

"I'm going to go inside and not murder my brother," I dutifully replied. "Then tomorrow morning, we'll go into the office and begin formulating our plan of attack."

"Good, I'm glad I finally managed to get through to you," she said, smiling.

I waited a moment, not wanting to move, but unsure of whether I could get away with kissing her. Leah made the decision for me as she dropped her hands and started up the front steps. I followed, knowing that keeping all of this under wraps was going to require the best acting job of my life.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Leah

Once I'd gotten Jack settled down enough to be sure that he wouldn't screw things up by letting loose on his brother, I went inside to find his mother. I knew that running away from the table had probably confused her because Jack hadn't told her about his surprise, and I wanted to apologize.

"Mrs. Yates?" I said when I found her sitting on a chaise in the back living room.

"Oh, please call me Betty, honey," she said as she patted the seat next to her. "Come sit with me and let’s talk."

"Betty, I'm sorry I ran away from the dinner table," I began. "I didn't . . ."

"You didn't know that Jack had already decided you'd stay here, did you?" she asked in a light tone that told me she was used to this kind of behavior. "My boys are good boy

s, but they are a lot like their father. When they see something needs to be done, they just do it. Everything and everyone else be damned."

"I didn't know he'd made plans for us," I said.